Front-Line innovation: Rapid implementation of a nurse-driven protocol for care of outpatients with COVID-19.

ABSTRACT

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: Our objective was to rapidly adapt and scale a registered nurse-driven Coordinated Transitional Care (C-TraC) programme to provide intensive home monitoring and optimise care for outpatient Veterans with COVID-19 in a large urban Unites States healthcare system. BACKGROUND: Our diffuse primary care network had no existing model of care by which to provide coordinated result tracking and monitoring of outpatients with COVID-19. DESIGN: Quality improvement implementation project. METHODS: We used the Replicating Effective Programs model to guide implementation, iterative Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles and SQUIRE reporting guidelines. Two transitional care registered nurses, and a geriatrician medical director developed a protocol that included detailed initial assessment, overnight delivery of monitoring equipment and phone-based follow-up tailored to risk level and symptom severity. We tripled programme capacity in time for the surge of cases by training Primary Care registered nurses. RESULTS: Between 23 March and 15 May 2020, 120 Veterans with COVID-19 were enrolled for outpatient monitoring; over one-third were aged 65 years or older, and 70% had medical conditions associated with poor COVID-19 outcomes. All Veterans received an initial call within a few hours of the laboratory reporting positive results. The mean length of follow-up was 8.1 days, with an average of 4.2 nurse and 1.3 physician or advanced practice clinician contacts per patient. The majority (85%) were managed entirely in the outpatient setting. After the surge, the model was disseminated to individual primary care teams through educational sessions. CONCLUSION: A model based on experienced registered nurses can provide comprehensive, effective and sustainable outpatient monitoring to high-risk populations with COVID-19.